Architecture for Elephants: A Q&A With Boonserm Premthada

Boonserm Premthada was a child in Bangkok when he learned the basics of making — using old newspapers to build toys when his family couldn’t afford them. He describes the place where he grew up as a slum; it was within this survival-oriented environment that he discovered imagination’s power to break barriers. “My approach to my practice doesn’t come from theory; it comes from the soul,” Premthada tells me.

There’s both magic and pragmatism in the Thai architect’s work. He defines being “human” not in terms of taxonomy but in the ability to relate more generously to non-human life. He grounds himself in a world where elephants and people live side by side, and in rural sites that sit forgotten on the margins. To him, sustainability…